November 03, 2010

Panel to pick aldermanic watchdog named

Nearly six months after voting to give a new watchdog the power to investigate them, Chicago aldermen have finally put in place the pepople who will recommend someone to fill the post.

Five individuals have agreed to join the panel to select three finalists for the position of legislative inspector general, said Ald. Richard Mell, 33rd, the Rules Committee chairman. The City Council will then vote on which finalist gets the job.

The invitees are former Chicago Police Supt. Terry Hillard; former Cook County federal hiring monitor Julia Nowicki; attorney David Cerda, the first Latino to serve on the state appellate court; Warren Wolfson, a retired state appellate judge and interim dean of DePaul University Law School; and Rev. Clay Evans of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, one of the largest churches in Chicago.

Mell said he consulted with several aldermen to come up with the panelists. He said he hopes the group has three finalists to recommend to the Rules Committee within a month.

"It could have been done faster," Mell said of choosing the panelists. "But we wanted to get the right mix, and we think we have that now."

The legislative inspector general, a position aldermen created in May under pressure from Mayor Richard Daley, has been criticized by some on the City Council as too weak, since statute requires the watchdog to first get approval from the little-known Chicago Board of Ethics before opening an investigation.

The Board of Ethics hasn't found a single case of wrongdoing by aldermen in 23 years.

But other council members feel the internal investigator is a needless and dangerous creation that could lead to political witch hunts.

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

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